Constructional kit



Oct. 20, 1970 JAMES 3,534,519

CONSTRUCTIONAL KIT Filed Jan. 29, 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORI-MICHAEL ANTHONY JAMES Oct. 20, 1970 JAMES CONSTRUCTIONAL KIT 5Sheets-Sheet Filed Jan. 29, 1968 INVENTOR MICHAEL ANTHONY JAMES BY?ATTORNEY Oct. 20, 1970 JAMES 3,534,519

CONSTRUCTIONAL KIT Filed Jan. 29, 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet 8 INVENTOR MICHAELANTHONY JAMES BY 7 4r- ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,534,519CONSTRUCTIONAL KIT Michael Anthony James, Coventry, England, assignor toJames Erection Company Limited, Coventry, England Filed Jan. 29, 1968,Ser. No. 701,390

Claims priority, application Great Britain, Mar. 14, 1967,

Int. Cl. 1304c 2/42 US. Cl. 52581 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Aconstructional kit for making an object, such as a gate or a shelf, byinterconnecting open panels formed from strip material and containingwithin their boundaries ornamentation also formed from strip material.

The invention relates to a constructional kit from which ornamentalgates, screens, shelves, brackets, and other items of household orgarden furniture can be built up and, in some instances, dismantled forre-assembly in different forms.

The constructional kit, according to the invention, includes at leasttwo panels each having a strip-like frame, of which the major width isdirected transversely of the panel, surrounding and supportingstrip-like ornamentation which is spaced from the frame in significantpositions, and screw-operated clamp means for interengaging the frames,in the said significant positions, of two adjacent panels so as to drawthe adjacent edges of the panels into firm engagement with at least oneintervening distance piece.

According to a feature of the invention each panel is built up from aframe and ornamentation strip which are formed separately and thenconnected to each other; while according to an alternative feature eachpanel is formed from a moulding or casting incorporating the frame andornamentation strip as an integral unit.

According to a further feature each screw-operated clamp includes a pairof facing plates having end flanges which face each other and areadapted to engage over the edge portions, in the said significantpositions, of the frames of two adjacent panels to be interconnected,and screw means which interconnect the two plates and serve as theintervening distance piece.

In such a case, and according to another feature, the screw means canextend through a sleeve which constitutes the distance piece.

According to a still further feature, and in the case where two panelsare to be interconnected with an included angle between their medianplanes, the clamp plate at the convex side of the said included angle iscentrally provided with an abutment having two surfaces which includethe supplementary angle to be abutted by the outer sides of the twoframes.

In the case where more than two of the panels are to be interconnectedin a radiating array, the screw-operated clamping means, according toyet another feature, includes for each adjacent pair of panels a platehaving end flanges to engage over the adjacent edge portions, in thesaid significant positions, of the pair of frames, and the separateplates are secured by screw-means to the respective sides of a polygonalblock, having a number of surfaces equal to the number of panels,against which the outer sides of the panel frames abut.

The invention is exemplified by the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an ornamental corner bracket;

FIG. 2 is a front view of a garden gate;

FIG. 3 illustrates how panels of different regular shapes can beinterconnected, for example, to form a screen;

FIG. 4 illustrates how circular panels can be interconnected to form anopen side of a staircase;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged, inverted section on the line 55 through one ofthe screw-operated clamps shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a view which is similar to FIG. 5 but illustrating a form ofscrew-operated clamp suitable for interconnecting four panels radiatingat right-angles to their neighbours;

FIGS. 7, 8 and 9 illustrate one form of screw-operated clamp forinterconnecting tWo panels edge to edge, FIG. 7 being a view in theplane of the two panels, FIG. 8 being a view in a plane at right-anglesthereto, and FIG. 9 being a cross-section on the line 99 of FIG. 8;

FIGS. 10, 11 and 12 are respectively similar to FIG. 7, 8 and 9 but showa screw-operated clamp which simultaneously holds a third panel atright-angles to the other two, and FIG. 13 is a view similar to FIG. 9showing a screw and sleeve arranged in a screw operated clamp.

Referring firstly to FIGS. 1 to 4, each of the constructions shown isbuilt up from panels formed from metal strip bent across its width andinterconnected by screwoperated clamps. The panels of FIGS. 1 and 2 areformed with rectangular frames 10, those of FIG. 4 with circular frames10a, and those of FIG. 3 with a combination of rectangular and circularframes. Each frame is shown as being interiorly provided with flatstrips 11 bent to form ornamentation.

The strips 11 are conveniently of the same width as the frames, butcould be narrower, and they are secured in the frames such as to leavethe frames free of contact with the ornamental strips in significantpositions for the reception of the screw-operated clamps as hereinafterdescribed. Thus, in FIG. 1 one of these significant positions occurscentrally of each of the four sides of the rectangular frames asindicated at 12, while in FIG. 2 the significant positions 12a occur ateach side of the centre of each of the four sides of the frame, althoughthe ornamental strips could be arranged so as also to provide a centralposition. In FIG. 4 the particular ornamentation shown provides four ofthose positions indicated at 12b.

Although only rectangular and circular panels are shown it is obviousthat they could be of other regular shapes, such, for example, astriangular, or polygonal, and that the number and arrangement of thepositions 12 will be controlled "by the ornamentation used.

The three panels of FIG. 1 are held in position by three screw-operatedclamps 13 which are shown in greater detail in FIG. 5. In the latter,two of the panel frames 19, 19 have their portions 12 engaged inhook-like extremities 14 of an outer plate 15 provided with an integral,triangular abutment 16, and the two portions 12 are engaged by theextremities 17 of an inner plate 18. The respective extremities 14 and17 are in alignment, and the plates 15 and 18 and the abutment areprovided with aligned holes 19 to receive a bolt 37 provided with a nut38. Alternatively the hole 19 in one of the plates could bescrew-threaded instead of providing the bolt with a nut. The bolt headsand nuts can be provided with ornamental covers (e.g., of plastic)suitably secured in position.

In FIG. 6 the four frames shown are held by four of the plates 18, butinstead of using plates like 15, each of the plates 18 are secured bybolts 39 inserted into screwthreaded bores 20 in the chamfered edges ofa central, rectangular block 21.

FIGS. 7 to 9 show how two panels can be connected together with theirplanes aligned. The portions 12 only of each panel frame are shown, andit will be seen that they are interconnected by a pair of U-shapedbrackets 22 held together by a bolt 37 which engages a nut 38 and alsoacts as a spacer for the frames of the two panels. The bolt 37 may alsoextend through a sleeve 40 which constitutes a spacer for the frames ofthe two panels as shown in FIG. 13.

The three panel portions 12 in FIGS. 10 to 12 are held together by oneU-shaped plate 22 embracing two of them, and a third and deeper U-shapedplate 23 between which, and the edges of the other two, is a distancepiece 24 which extends through windows in the arms of plate 23. The twoplates are urged towards each other by a bolt 41 which is insertedthrough the hole 19 of plate 22 and engages in a screw-threaded bore indistance piece 24 to clamp the bight of plate 23 against the frameportion 12 it embraces. The action of distance piece 24 in the windowscauses it to clamp the other two portions 12 against the bight of plate22.

Screw-operated clamps of the kinds just described, or of an equivalentfunctional form are adapted for use in attaching fixing brackets orhinges to the panels. Thus, the staggered vertical rows of panels whichform the gate shown in FIG. 2 are not only interconnected byscrewoperated clamps of the kind described with reference to FIGS. 7 to9 but the same form of clamp can be used for the supporting of the gaterelatively to the gate posts 25 and 26. The lower hinge interconnectingthe gate to post 25 includes a hinge barrel 27 parallely fast with astrip 28 which is of the same cross-section as a portion 12 and isclamped to the gate by the FIGS. 7 to 9 construction, the hinge barrelbeing for coaction with a hinge pin 29 made fast to the gate post. Thebarrel 30 of the upper hinge is fast with a plate 31 which is atrightangles to it and secured by another of the clamps in the space,shown in FIG. 7, between the portions 12 of the two panels. The latchpin 32 for coaction with the swinging catch plate 33 attached to gatepost 26 is held in position in the same way as is hinge barrel 30.

In much the same way the assembly of circular panels of FIG. 4 are heldto the hand rail 34, tread support 35 and newel post 36 of the stairwayshown.

When panels of the invention are used to form a shelf or table topintended to support a glass pane the screws or bolts used in selectedpositions can have their heads provided with rubber caps for the pane torest upon.

It will be appreciated that if one should dismantle, say, the gardengate above described, the various panels and clamps could bere-assembled to form another kind of article, for example, one or moreof the corner brackets shown in FIG. 1.

It will also be appreciated that a sufficient number of the panels andclamps can be supplied as a kit for the assembly of one or more articlesin accordance with instructions supplied with the kits.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent ofthe United States is:

1. A construction kit including at least two panels each having astrip-like frame of which the major width is directed transversely ofthe panel, strip-like ornamentation which is secured within each framebut is spaced from the frame in significant positions, an interveningdistance piece for arrangement between the frames of two adjacentpanels, and screw-operated clamp means for interengaging the frames ofthe two adjacent panels in the said significant positions so as to drawthe adjacent edges of the panels into firm engagement with saidintervening distance piece, each screw-operated clamp includes a pair offacing plates having end flanges which face each other and are adaptedto engage over the edge portions of the frames of the two adjacentpanels in the said significant positions, and screw means whichinterconnect the two plates and serve as the intervening distance piecethe two panels are interconnected with an included angle between theirmedian planes, and in which the clamp plate at the convex side of thesaid included angle is centrally provided with an abutment having twosurfaces which include the supplementary angle to be abutted by theouter sides of the two frames.

2. A construction kit including at least two panels each having astrip-like frame of which the major width is directed transversely ofthe panel, strip-like ornamentation which is secured within each framebut is spaced from the frame in significant positions, an interveningdistance piece for arrangement between the frames of two adjacentpanels, and screw-operated clamp means for interengaging the frames ofthe two adjacent panels in the said significant positions so as to drawthe adjacent edges of the panels into firm engagement with saidintervening distance piece more than two of the panels areinterconnected in a radiating array, and the screw-operated clampingmeans includes for each adjacent pair of panels a plate having endflanges to engage over the adjacent edge portions, in the saidsignificant positions, of the pair of frames, and the separate platesbeing secured by screw means to the respective sides of a polygonalblock, having a number of surfaces equal to the number of panels,against which the outer sides of the panel frames abut.

References (Iited UNITED STATES PATENTS PRICE C. FAW, JR., PrimaryExaminer US. Cl. X.R.

